"Please RT The Heaven out of This"

In case you were wondering, the title of this post is not an ego-driven request, it's a statement mirroring a Twitter post I observed the other day.

If you use Twitter  you may have noticed about a day and half ago, the active volcano known in comedic circles as Ricky Gervais began spurting ire from his caldera.  He flew into a tirade of aggressive posts directed at and seemingly mocking Christians. One of the these tweets had the following image attached with a request to "Please RT the Hell out of this":

The Recent Outburst from Ricky Gervais on Twitter

It's not the first time Gervais has courted controversy for aggressively baiting an individual or group on the Internet and I dare say it won't be the last. This particular series of tweets probably flew under the "outrage radar" because it was perceived as knocking the  oppressive religious establishment (I'm not so sure religion has the monopoly on oppression... not by a long chalk).  However, I think I understand what motivated his actions on this occasion.  Let's put a bit of context into the equation.  On the day these tweets came out, Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the northern states of the American Eastern Seaboard and US pastor John McTernan had posted a blog attributing the blame for the hurricane (and other natural disasters) squarely at the door of those who want to further the gay agenda.

This may have stuck in the craw of Gervais who as an ardent atheist must have found it deeply irritating that a group who by and large often deny the scientific theories implying human activity influences climate change, were turning the gun on their own political targets... which he believes to be fuelled by mumbo jumbo.

I think whenever Gervais feels he or somebody else he feels as undeserving becomes the recipient of bullying tactics and trolling, he resorts to the same tactic.

As a point of fact as a Christian I do believe humans affect climate change. While some preachers  will emphasise that God commanded mankind to subdue the Earth in Genesis 1:28, I take a different view.  Lets look at that verse in the Amplified Version of the Bible:

"And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth."

Genesis 1:28 (AMP)

It seems clear to me that God didn't just hand us the keys to planet Earth and say "do what you like with it". In point of fact, the Bible emphasises that God still retains the ownership deeds:

"The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;"

 Psalm 24:1

Our lives are for rent... and we can't learn to buy (no matter what Dido sings); everything we acquire or build up in this life, once we relinquish it - becomes the property of another. Everything we have on this planet is for our time and we must use it wisely - be it wealth, health or the resources of the planet itself. We have to look after this planet because we don't own it... we just live here by the grace of the One who made it.

All this aside I want to address my main point... the words of Gervais about Christians, Hell & Santa:

"A Christian telling an atheist he is going to Hell is about as scary as a small child telling an adult they won't get any presents from Santa".

Ricky Gervais

The whole barb of that comment relies on the self righteous belief of atheists that their view is superior... that Christians have bought into a fairy story and that when they grow up, they will see the whole tale for what it is and dismiss it as myth.

However there's another problem... both the Christians and atheists in question - the messenger and the recipient, happen to have misunderstood the message.  In all his teachings, Jesus reserved his deepest warnings for the self-righteous. He never used fear as a weapon. when Jesus is talking to "sinners", He is at his most tolerant... be it the Samaritan woman at the well, Zaccheus, or the woman caught in adultery... Jesus's message is one of love and hope, not threat and damnation. Christians should not be beating up the broken with threats; that IS bullying. It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict the world of sin... not ours. Our duty is to live out holy, Spirit-filled lives that reflect the glory of God... and when people starved of the bread of salvation ask us "why am I hungry" or "where can I get fed", that's when we provide THE answer. You can't batter someone who is resistant to your message into submission... it just doesn't work like that. All you will succeed in doing with that tactic is drive them away in fear or force them to come out fighting in anger... nobody wins. Love s the answer, always has been... always will be.

A wise man once told me a parable that illustrated this sentiment perfectly for me. It concerned a wager between the sun and the wind. Seeing a man walking down the road with his hat and coat, both bet that they could make him remove his extra apparel. The wind went first and blew as hard as it could... but no matter how hard it tried, it just encouraged the man to clutch his hat to his head and hold his coat as tightly to himself as possible.   The sun took its turn and poured as much of its warmth and light onto the man as possible... overwhelmed by the temperature, the man removed his hat and coat of his own accord and carried on down the path.

It's warmth and not force that wins the day.

But what about Santa?

I think Ricky has got it wrong. Christians are not the small child in this equation. Let me in counterpoint tell you how I think it works:

An atheist is like a small child who as he begins to grow up realises Santa doesn't exist* and is either bitterly disappointed and filled with a sense of loss... or shrugs his shoulders and thinks it doesn't matter anyway. Yet this child has not yet matured to the point of realising that for all the tales of Santa there is a very real parent who loves him, wants to provide for him and wants to have a full relationship with him. That parent is God. Far from being the foolish small child making threats to the enlightened, a Christian is the older sibling who understands that when you scratch away the superficiality of religion... you begin to understand that there is a deeper, more powerful truth behind it all - one that you wished your younger brother shared.

*Disclaimer - Santa IS real and I believe in him

The Hardest Prayer

At church this week we were looking at prayer as our main subject matter; it lead me to reminisce on some thoughts I have had in the past on what I think is perhaps the hardest prayer you will ever pray, and I felt inspired to write these down and share them with you in a line-by-line analysis. So what is this prayer?

It is nothing less than the Lord's Prayer.

We say it every Sunday and many of us know it off by heart; I wonder though, how many of us slide into familiar patterns with such ease that we fail to resist the temptation to just phone it in. If we stop and examine it... maybe it will give us cause to take a step back and think about what it we are saying every week:

Our Father in heaven:

Right from the very start, just two words in and already we have made our first bold assumption - we have acknowledged the presence of an omnipotent God and summoned him to commune with us. Not only this, but we have dared to presume a relationship (however factual it may be through out adoption in Christ), with this almighty God... you have declared that he has a paternal bond with you.

Hallowed be your name:

We have acknowledged that God is holy and knowing ourselves to be imperfect and prone to unholy behaviour, that too is an audacious thing to do... something that requires us to acknowledge the truth about ourselves and compels us to prostrate ourselves in humility.

Your kingdom come:

Here we are calling on God to usher in his Kingdom - to call time on these "shadowlands", to end the imperfect tenancy of man's reign on Earth... and establish his reign in the new creation. In theology we  are taught that the kingdom is both "here"   and "near", that is to say that while we live as Christians, the values of God's Kingdom are present and alive within us as the Church... but that this is just a deposit and the full realisation of the Kingdom is just around the corner... awaiting the fullness of time. In the ultimate sense, when we pray this part of the Lord's Prayer... we are calling for nothing short of the end of the world (not in a cataclysmic sense... although the Bible teaches that cataclysmic events are the birth pangs to this)

Your will be done, on earth as in heaven:

Here we affirm that we are subservient to God. When we pray this line with an honest heart we are saying that whatever our will is, whatever the things we desire are... we are willing and prepared to submit them to God's divine plan and that we would rather see his heavenly will and design for our life and in the world around us... than our  own selfish desires.

Give us today our daily bread:

Interesting that phrase isn't it? Bread is a staple food... it's the basics, a food we fall back on when our banquet table isn't full (if we even have a banquet table). What we are effectively saying to God is that however much we think this life owes us, however much we feel we are entitled to or wish to satiate ourselves with, we are willing to only receive what we need... admitting that the things that we want are not necessarily as important to us as the things that we need... and sacrificing them for our own spiritual well-being.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us:

Now we come to the really big stuff... and in fact our church service books have let us off a little lightly in my opinion. Here's how the Gospels render that line:

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."

Matthew 6:12

"Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us."

Luke 11:4a

So in Matthew's Gospel the past tense is used, whilst in Luke's Gospel a universal approach is required. In other words we are not to put limitations or criteria on when we forgive or who we forgive. Jesus is quoted in Matthew 5 as commanding us to be reconciled with those we have quarrels with before making an offering to God... and time and again there is the warning that if we don't forgive others, we ourselves will not be able to receive forgiveness because of the bitterness in our hearts. It is therefore clear that our willingness to forgive others must be paramount when we pray this prayer... and who those others are has no exceptions. whether it's the pettiest slight or the deepest grievance, we have to set aside our own desire for retribution and leave it in God's trustworthy hands.

Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil:

Here we acknowledge that we are not in control of our lives and are susceptible to the many distractions and pitfalls that life has to offer us. We admit that we aren't always the best judge of the situations we find ourselves enveloped in.  As much as we love our independence as human beings, we confess that we are not qualified to self determine the best path for our lives. As much as our independence matters to us... we are calling upon God to direct us away from the harm that we find ourselves lured into. In Homer's Odyssey, there is a point where Odysseus and his crew need to navigate past the island of the Sirens; there's one problem - anybody who has heard the beautiful voice of the Sirens is irresistibly lured to their death on the island's rocky shoreline... where they are devoured mercilessly by the Sirens in their true form. To escape this fate, Odysseus orders his men to put beeswax in their ears and to lash him to the main mast in order that he can hear their song without dying. The plan works but Odysseus nearly rips himself apart trying to get to the island because confined as he is... his urges are too overwhelming. I've always found that a useful parallel for this part of the Lord's Prayer. We know that there are harmful things that are out there for us... seeking to devour us, often they wear a pretty face or have strongly desirable qualities.  In the times we find ourselves unable to block out the fatalistic lure of these competing desires... when we are either unwilling or unable to block out their appeal with the equivalent of beeswax, we need to call upon a power that will keep us lashed to the mast even when we scream and cry out in desperation to be sent to our deaths.  We need humility and courage to do that... and this what our appeal to God here is about.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever:

We set aside all personal sense of ownership and hierarchy in the universe. We admit that God is sovereign in all and over all... and we reject the desire to to supplant him in our daily lives.

Amen.

Really? Amen is a hard word to pray? You might not think so... but let me throw another element into the equation.  In the book/film The Princess Bride, the farm boy Westley keeps uttering a phrase every time Buttercup asks him to do something - "As you wish". But Westley isn't merely stating his willingness to comply with Buttercup... he means something deeper:

 

When Westley says "As you wish", he actually means "I love you". Can I challenge you to rethink what we mean by "Amen" in a similar way?  The word Amen translates in English to something like "so be it" or perhaps if you are in to Star Trek it could also translate to "make it so". Isn't that the same as "as you wish"? Shouldn't it mean the same? Rather than just saying that we comply with a prayer or simply confirm the desires expressed within prayer... couldn't we, shouldn't we actually be meaning "I love you"?

Just some food for thought. I'm sure there have been or will be hard times in people's lives where a specific prayer of the moment has been immensely hard (if you would care to share it, please do). I don't mean to belittle those experiences at all... what I'm driving at is that this is a general prayer, one we've all grown up with... and yet we fail to recognise the power and the meaning in the words we utter. In fact that's a charge that can be laid at our door for other things like the Creed... but that's a topic for another time.

• What prayers do you find the hardest?
• What do you think about the Lord's Prayer?

Do We Need Social Media "ASMBOs"?

A strange question for me to choose upon my return from a blogging hiatus, to be sure. However it's highly topical at the moment as I'm sure you'll agree.

Twice this week in the news, stories have broken that directly relate to the antisocial online behaviour of certain individuals that have been directly linked to poignant and painful news stories; both have been given court sentences. Matthew Woods - an unemployed teenager from Chorley, was jailed and given a custodial sentence of 12 weeks following his posting of jokes that poked fun at the desperately sad and highly emotive case of the abducted schoolgirl April Jones. In a totally unrelated case, that stretches back to events in March, Azhar Ahmed was fined and ordered to participate in 240 hours of community service after expressing a desire to see soldiers die and burn in Hell, just hours after 6 British soldiers lost their lives in Afghanistan.

What links these cases of course is the Facebook element. Both used the social media platform to express themselves and in both cases, the authorities saw fit to throw the book at them.

You get the impression that many of those in authority don't fully grasp how social media works and are terrified by the power it gives to those who previously did not have a voice. They understand it enough to use it tactically as a way of gathering information, yet when social media manifests its power in a more sinister fashion (riots, trolling and tasteless comments such as those recorded in the stories above), politicians, police and judges alike seem at a loss to navigate the minefield of civil liberties and responsibilities.

Knowing what is acceptable online behaviour is one thing... getting  a correct and proportionate response when somebody deviates from that path is quite another. In what is still the most prominent social media court case to date - the Paul Chambers Twitter Joke Trial, a judiciary sledgehammer was used to crack a peanut. Chambers in a moment of blind frustration had quipped that he was going to blow up Nottingham's Robin Hood Airport if they didn't sort things out.  After an off duty employee of the airport intercepted the tweet and called it in, the police got involved and things got out of hand.

Of course there is a clear difference between the Twitter Joke Trial and the cases of the young men above, I think we can all be prone to a knee-jerk utterance of ridiculous hyperbole when confronted with a frustrating or trying situation.... but when it comes to events that involve the real-life suffering of others... there's a line that thankfully most of us know not to cross.

Eternal Wisdom

Even then that still leaves us with the trolls. Poignantly, I myself came under attack by a troll on Twitter the other day.  After initially walking away from the situation and "shaking the dust off my feet", I was disturbed to see that the person concerned held so much hatred after an exchange on what was actually a trivial issue (they thought they'd spotted something really clever that undermined the entire Christian faith and yet there were obvious common sense explanations some of which were included in the Biblical narrative). Within minutes of the initial exchange, said person had tracked back to this blog... and drawn the conclusion that I was a ""smugly condescending bigot" "#liar4Jesus" who should try & "fool children of my own mental age". Just a little bit harsh then. As far as I'm concerned, it was their tone and choice of prejudicial language that made them the belligerent party and ironically, the very bigot they were claiming to be exposing. All they needed to do to complete the full set was break Godwin's Law.

Still it brought me back here and got me writing again... for which i am eternally thankful to them.

I'll admit I don't have much time for people who have an aggressive agenda. I don't mind atheists or humanists promoting their own ideologies... but I do object to those who the basis of their argument is the pure denigration of those who think and believe differently. That is a measure I hold myself and all others against. Militancy is a nasty spectre wherever it raises its ugly head. I also don't like others presuming to tell me what I believe on my behalf. I have a brain, I have a heart, I have a soul... I am capable of utilising them all... just because I draw a different conclusion to my detractors... it doesn't give them the right prejudicially label me or file me in a box with disdain.

That's just my experience... and it's just the tip of the iceberg. Across the world, young people are being targeted with callous hateful exchanges which sometimes have tragic and even fatal consequences.... and it seems we are powerless to do anything as the tide advances inexorably towards us, unless we use the full weight of the law.

Perhaps it is time social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook find ways (in addition to their more potent measures)to "soft police" their networks.

A ban hammer and day in court are pretty much nuclear options  and in the case of contextual or subjective exchanges are not always going to be the most sensible way of dealing with unsavoury characters.

So what can be done?

I was thinking about this while passing the time playing "Transformers: Fall of Cybertron" on my XBox 360 when it hit me... gamer rep cards.

XBox Live incorporates a feature on your profile that records when people report you or avoid you and gives reasons why... here's an example I found from a picture on a Google Search:

A Typical XBox 360 Gamercard Showing Rep

As you can see it gives your profile a basic 5 star rating... but it also gives you a breakdown of communication and behaviour that people have taken a dislike to. Perhaps Twitter and Facebook could benefit from installing a similar feature. Of course it would have to be given proper consideration. Some trolls are organised and could launch concerted campaigns to damage the reputation of perfectly reasonable people.

So there are no easy answers but I think this might be a starting point... a place where we can begin to consider how we can police ourselves and warn others of troublesome profiles before Big Brother comes and does it all for us in a horrible, convoluted and heinous manner.

• What experiences have you had of being trolled?
• What do you think can be done to combat malicious online behaviour?

Ceremonies of Light and Ark

They say nobody does pomp and ceremony like the British... it seems we have a pageant or civic ritual for everything and anything. Over the last week or so I've had recourse to ponder over this.

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of bearing witness to the passage of the Olympic Flame through my own home town - Alcester. It was touch and go whether or not I made it as my father had was due to return home from hospital the day before and I was supposed to be at a training weekend for the holiday camp I help out at. In the end things worked out in my favour - my father came out a day early and needed my help providing transport and a close friend's baptism came up on the Saturday evening. These two facts resulted in me leaving the training weekend early and getting a much needed night's sleep in time for the torch to arrive on the Sunday.

Early on the Sunday morning (prior to road closures), I drove my parents to the spot they had picked to watch the relay. Several residents had not heeded the warning to clear the area of their vehicles which were covered in police tape, ready to be towed away. I then planted myself strategically outside Lloyds TSB at the end of the High Street. I felt certain this was a good spot because the bank are cosponsors of 2012 and was hedging my bets that it would be one of the handover locations. I was a good two hours early for the relay and I chatted with those around me to pass the time.

Roughly one hour before the torch was due to arrive, a bus travelled towards my vantage point and I was thrilled to see that it was plastered with Christian slogans and there was a band playing praise and worship songs on board the top deck. I later discovered the bus had been following the relay route all the way from Escall's Methodist chapel, not far from Land's End. You can learn more about the efforts and aims of the Praise bus by following this link. It was wonderful to see a group of Christians throwing themselves into a secular ceremony and contributing to the glory of God.

As the time drew near, the crowds swelled along the High Street and indeed occupied every square inch of pavement, every window opening as far as the eye could see. The streets, already decked with bunting for the Jubilee and adorned with the hanging baskets Alcester is renowned for, bristled with colour as Olympic bunting and flags were draped in any spare spot that could be found. Children jumped up and down with excitement as entertainers kept the crowd's attention in the run up.

It was then that the first coach arrived and dropped off a relay runner right under our noses. Kids encircled her... straining to touch the torch or posing for photographs. A few moments later the outriders shot down the High Street, giving high fives to all the bystanders. This was followed by what I considered to be a fly in the ointment... a light blue bus with an "Ali G" type MC and dancers. I didn't mind the dancers, but the dialogue wasn't appropriate to the  event. It reflected London more than Britain and was to my mind an aberration. It was gilding the lily... it was an unnecessary addition to the occasion.

An Olympic Torch

Finally, the magic moment arrived and we were there... right in front of the flame as it transferred from one torch, to the next. The air was filled with electricity and the crowd went wild... and then as quickly as the moment seemed to come, it passed... the crowds mingled together, sharing their experiences before finally dissipating into their respective Sunday routines.

The Olympic Flame is Passed

You can see more of my pictures of the Olympic torch relay passing through Alcester, by following this link.

Not long after this took place I was down to preach and one passage from the Lectionary struck me as being relevant to the ceremonial nature of the torch relay, it also happened to continue along the theme I have felt burdened to preach over recent weeks. The passage was 2 Samuel 6:1-19 and it concerned King David's attempts (and eventual success), to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.

Probably ever since its appearance in the 1980's film: Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Ark has gained a greater general cultural awareness and a reputation for being a weapon of mass destruction.  However what made it special? Why was David so keen to bring the Ark into his shining new capital?

The Ark symbolised God's presence among the people of Israel; more than this, it symbolically defined their relationship with Him. It contained artifacts that represented God's favour, provision and Israel's dependence and failure to keep his commands (a jar of manna, Aaron's staff and the original stone tablets of the Law). It was also the centrepiece of the rituals and sacrifices that represented the atonement for the sins of the Israelites.

Yet for the entirety of Saul's reign, the Ark had not been enquired after... aside from a troublesome adventure with the Philistines, it had gathered dust in a place called Shiloh. In seeking to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, David was making a statement - "this kingdom is going to be a kingdom with God at its very heart, where God's reign is of more importance than my own."

What I like about the 2 Samuel account, is that it isn't just a story about success... it is also a story about how when we don't pay attention to God's plans, we can fail... and crucially how after we have failed, God doesn't give up on us but provides us the guidance and strength to ultimately succeed.

I'd like you to try and visualise yourself 3 millennia ago. Imagine you are lining the streets with eager anticipation, awaiting the spectacle of the Ark as it passes by you on its way to Jerusalem. If that seems hard for you to do... picture yourself among the crowds awaiting the Olympic Torch, with that expectation of a special moment. Then all of a sudden.... there is a commotion... the crowds part... and you see this:

Imagine if Steptoe & Son had transported the Ark or the Torch.

Not exactly the most dignified form of transport is it?

What a let down it would be if the Olympic Torch had just been towed through town on the back of a tractor. A cart is not the most graceful method of getting from A-B but I suppose in David's eyes it was a quick way to get the Ark home.

The trouble was that the Ark was not just an item of cargo... it wasn't a mere object, it represented God... the divine person. Nobody likes to be treated as an object... we all desire to be valued and that is as true of God as it is of any of us. The truth is that we can all fall prey to the danger of church trappings and ... and glorify a building or a worship style instead of the divine Person. David is not alone by any means and he had got the right initial idea... but in his enthusiasm to get the job done he was ignoring God's ways. This event occurred at the very start of David's reign over a unified Israel... an Israel that as a kingdom had for the very first time an uncontested capital. This was an opportunity for Israel to get to know God in a new way, a special way at the beginning of this new and exciting episode in their story. Speed was not of the essence... acknowledging and praising God was.

Events take an unfortunate turn when a man named Uzzah tries to stop the Ark toppling over onto the road. All he does is reach out and touch it... but that's enough to result in fatal consequences. The Bible records in the episode that God's anger burned against Uzzah. On the surface that seems very harsh, after all, Uzzah's intentions were good intentions. I think there are two very important things to remember that help explain this. The first and most important point is that God cannot look on sin. Before Christ's once and for all sacrifice, mankind's cards were marked. When God looks at those who believe and trust in Him now, he sees Christ's blood covering and atoning for our sins. Prior to that as I have already mentioned, sacrifices needed to be made that foreshadowed the grace that was coming to man. However sin was still there to be seen and without grace, we are literally allergic to the holiness of God. When God saw Uzzah, he saw the sinful nature that was inside of him and had to act.  The second point is that prior to Jesus, God had made special allowances for the transport of the Ark. The Levites were Israel's priestly tribe... and He had given them special dispensation to carry the Ark on poles. Uzzah was not one of those Levites and so his actions were not covered by that dispensation.

In the passage, David moves through several emotions. Firstly he is angry because he had tried to please God and yet it had resulted in an act of judgement and the death of one of his companions. I can easily imagine how that anger may have started out. Isn't it hard to cope with the embarrassment that comes when we stick our necks out for God and put ourselves in a vulnerable position and because of our fallibility, nothing happens or worse, something bad happens... and because we have egos, in our own eyes we are ashamed and it reflects badly on us.  If we let our egos get in the way and sit on the throne of our hearts, we can never really please God because we will always be looking to protect ourselves or advance ourselves at God's expense.

Thankfully David is a bigger man than say a predecessor such as Cain. He doesn't let his anger turn to sin and act out of spite. Instead he tries to come to terms with his emotions. At first his anger evolves into fear. Having had a knock to his confidence, David fears God has abandoned him (irrationally given his prior experience), and so he retreats away from his own plan of action.

Here's the truly great thing about David - he is in God's words "a man after God's own heart". He doesn't give up... because he loves God.

John's first epistle teaches us that:

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us."

1 John 1:18-19

David's love of God drives out his fear of punishment. After 3 months of prayer, study & meditation... and noting the fact that God has blessed the person whose house the Ark is residing, David realises that his only failure was to not consider or consult how God wanted to proceed... he ignored God's gracious guiding hand.

David's second attempt is 100% successful.

David understood that even as a king, he was subservient to God; he demonstrates this by stripping out of his royal robes to reveal a simple priestly garment... and he dances and praises God with wild abandon before the Ark, as it is processed to its new home.

Even then, David's actions don't go down well with his wife Michal who thinks he is acting beneath himself. However, David's response to her is that he doesn't care how stupid  or ridiculous he looks... if it glorifies God, he'll gladly look even more ridiculous.

King David sets us an excellent example - service to God in his eyes is more important than popularity (even with those he is close to), more precious than personal sovereignty over his own life and actions.

We can learn a lot from him and I think by following his example we can spiritually SPICE up our lives:

SEEK how God wants us to achieve his goals... even when we are confident of what those goals are.


PRAY for forgiveness and for guidance when we get things wrong and need help.


Be INSPIRED by God by spending time with him... and then inspire others to do the same.


CENTRALISE God in our lives. Make it evident to all that he is our No.1 priority.


ENJOY being in God's presence and worshipping him, irrespective of what others think. It isn't just a chore or duty... it is a privilege and a joy.

• Have you seen or been a part of the Olympic Torch Relay?
• What experiences do you have of overcoming failure with God?

Of Fathers and Unexpected Choices.

The last time I preached at church I felt quite awkward, I felt there was something in the air that resisted the topic I was talking on... so much so that it made me pretty tense and I rushed my talk. Thankfully this morning was an altogether different experience, which is just as well given that I stuck with a similar message as one of my central themes.

The passage I chose to preach on was 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13. It relays the story of how Samuel (still grieving over God's rejection of Saul),  travelled to Bethlehem to anoint the king's eventual successor - David.

Seeing as the Olympic Torch is due to pass through my town in matter of weeks, I decided my talk would carry an Olympic flavour to it. The first question I posed was this:

What connects these people?

The answer is that they have all been chosen to be Olympic torch bearers. The first two  (Diana Gould of London and Dominic McGowan of Birmingham), are the oldest and youngest people to have been chosen respectively; the latter four (Holly Parker of Redditch, Sandra Lopez of Miami, Youssou N'Dour of Dakar and Sophie Witherford of Malvern), are the torch bearers who have been chosen to run through my own town of Alcester on Sunday, July 1st. Of these, the most well known is going to be Youssou N'Dour (although many in my congregation had not heard of him), as he is is probably the most famous living musician to come out of Africa and for his work as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations.

However the important thing about their selection is that it has nothing to do with athleticism. The people who have been chosen to participate in the Torch Relay are those who have been perceived as community heroes of some description. Between them, the people above (and the myriad of others), have clocked up a huge amount community work & voluntary service between them. The criteria for selection was not based on their levels of fitness... indeed there have been some torch bearers who have been running entirely on prosthetic limbs.

Well that in essence is what the passage today was all about. When Samuel was called to visit the household of Jesse in Bethlehem, he was presented with an impressive procession of young men. To my imagination, it must have resembled the conveyor belt from The Generation Game. Samuel saw their strength and stature and was clearly impressed by all of them.. and yet he was surprised to discover that God did not share his enthusiasm.

In the same way that the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), used completely different criteria to what we might expect, God did exactly the same with regard to his choice of king. Who is it that God chooses? He chooses the runt of the family... the ginger (yes David's physical description says he had red hair), in short... exactly the kind of person who might get picked last by his peers in a school football line up.

The crux of what was happening here is found in verse 7:

"But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

There's an important parallel and lesson here for us both nationally and locally; The Church of England and the Alcester Minster will shortly be due to choose a successor to their current leaders. As touched upon in my previous post, there is a heated debate going on with regard to who the next Archbishop of Canterbury should be. You see people advocating candidates on the basis that they are "liberal", or "traditional" or "evangelical". All the time it seems to me that they are looking for their candidate and not God's. As a character on Babylon 5 once put it:

"Sometimes we stand in front of the light and assume that we are the centre of the universe. God looks astonishingly like we do!"

G'Kar - Meditations on the Abyss

Aren't we all a little guilty of that from time to time? If we are honest (as we are called to be), aren't we?

The choice between a liberal candidate or a conservative candidate is a FALSE choice. In the wake of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, there was a debate on Newsnight as to whether or not the Papal choice should have been liberal or conservative. A woman was arguing strongly that the cardinals had let the world down by electing an ultra-conservative pope. Yet a Roman Catholic priest came back with a very valid comment. He argued that the duty of a pope isn't to be liberal or conservative, that shouldn't even come into the equation when choosing a new pope. A pope should be chosen because he is faithful to God.

That is God's criteria... while we stumble around looking for a candidate who scratches our particular theological itches, we should actually be hoping, praying and seeking out a man of God who is faithful to the will of God... our views and the views of the public aren't nearly as important as that. i can't state it enough.

However God's choice isn't just about people in positions of religious or secular authority. It is about us too. As unseemly as we may think we are, we too have a calling. We too (those of us who choose to accept it), have been chosen.

We stumble... we stagger and sometimes we fall, but it is at those times that God's grace shines so brightly in our lives and maybe that is a major reason why he calls us:

"Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

How can God nullify the world's standards of success by using our weakness? Well perhaps on Father's Day, I can offer you a poignant illustration. In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British athlete Derek Redmond was preparing to run the race of his life; he was tipped for a medal in the 400 metres. The race began normally enough, but 150 metres or so into the race, Derek felt a twang in the back of his leg and a searing pain. He collapsed to the ground in agony as the rest of the racers sprinted towards the line. Broken and defeated, Derek had every reason to give up.

He didn't.

Redmond picked himself up off the ground and hobbled along the track like a lame chicken towards the finish line. As he did so, the officials and stewards ran up to him and tried to stop him... but he insisted he wanted to carry on. Suddenly from out of the stands, a short, stock built older man ran out and head for Redmond. Stewards tried to stop him too... but he shrugged them off. As he reached Redmond he told him that he didn't have to finish the race... he'd done enough. Redmond insisted that he needed to cross the line. The man put a hand on Redmond's shoulder and reassured him "then we are going to finish it together".

That man was Derek Redmond's father - Jim Redmond.

The two of them walked to the finish line and received a standing ovation from 65,000+ onlookers in the stadium. I can't watch the footage of that race without welling up, it speaks more to me of the Olympic spirit than even the largest medal haul of any athlete or nation. Furthermore I can't tell you who won that race... I can't even tell with certainty who went on to win the gold medal in the final... but I can tell you that I'll remember what Derek Redmond did until the day that I die.

 

That is what God can do in our lives with his grace. When we struggle or even fail, we have the cosmic assurance that 2,000 years ago a God came down to Earth to atone for our mistakes and make us whole again... and that every day he is with us in the power of the Holy Spirit... not content to watch from the stands, the Father draws near to us and brings us home, to his glory.

How deep the Father's love for us... how vast beyond all measure.